“Hello and welcome to the wide world of Poke’mon”. Just a little disclaimer here: while Poke’mon, Ruroni Kenshin, and their characters aren’t copyrighted to me, characters such as “Landon” and “Zeru” are. In this story, you’ll join our young hero, Landon, in his epic and unusual journey in the world of Poke’mon. Equipped with a magical bell, he and his friends must stare down the face of evil, win every challenge, make new friends, and claw their way to the top. But can they stop the ultimate evil that threatens their world? There are many twists and surprises, so you have to keep reading if you really want to “Catch ‘em all!” in:
Poke’mon X
Landon let out a yawn as he tied his new white scarf around the tail of his hair. He, Zeru, and May were up in the early hours of the morning, walking the streets of Slateport City. Since it was their last day on vacation for a while, they decided to spend it together. (Last time on Poke’mon X, May and Zeru stumbled onto a breeding center, where they ended with a Phanpy and an Eevee. Landon Himura stopped to find a way to earn more money, and did so through his stomach. With the last day of vacation at hand, what adventures will befall our heroes today?— [May:] “We get it, Mr. Narrator!” [Zeru:] “Yeah, we don’t need you to narrate every time we do something.” [Landon:] “But he’s the narrator; that’s what he does.” [Narrator:] “Let’s just go—this show is only half an hour long!”)
Theme Song: Pocket Monsters X(treme)
Running at
The speed of sound
What adventures can be found?
Traveling the world all around
As fate just spins it upside-down
Little monsters
Everywhere
Find a new one and I’m there
Victory is just for fun
There’s no stoppin’ till I’m number one
Crys-tal,
Clear, and Shadow
Three lights—
That fight the way
Protect those legendary
Is my destiny!
Poke’mon X
(Poke’mon X)
Leading the way
Is my sweet victory
Poke’mon X
(Poke’mon X)
A mystery
Behind each one we see
Poke’—mon X
(Ex—Ex)
This journey I’ll run
Has only begun!!
Episode 20: “Danger at the Lighthouse Keep”
The sun beat down through the cloudless sky. Slateport City’s busy hustle and bustle returned with a vengeance as if they had been there the whole time. Zeru’s Phanpy decided to mimic Toya and hang over her trainer’s shoulder. Being a Poke’mon of a wild nature, Zeru didn’t feel it necessary to keep her crammed in a Poke’ball. As if yesterday’s events didn’t even happen, Landon and Toya were murdering a box of popcorn. “I can’t wait till we get to the Oceanic Museum.” He said through a mouthful of Popcorn. “Mud-mudkip!” Toya chimed. “Yeah, it’s supposed to be Slateport’s hot-spot for tourists. That’s why we had to get up early this morning.” “‘Cause everyone will be there.” Zeru finished for May. “Exactly,” She smiled. “What I wanna’ see is that ancient amulet they dug up from a ship at the bottom of the sea.” Landon stated.
The oceanic museum was a large dome-like building made almost completely of glass. In this way, anyone could see the different displays through the window. Just like the breeding center, the museum was settled on a small his for vantage purposes. Today, however, the commotion that was supposed to be on the inside, now resided on the outside; a rather large group of people were crowded around the Oceanic Museum. Their voices filled the once silent air with heated anger. Landon, May, and Zeru blinked as they walked up towards the back of the crowd. “What’s going on up here? They don’t sound too happy.” Landon pointed out the obvious. “Maybe the museum is still closed or something.” Zeru suggested, but May shook her head and checked her wristwatch, “No, the museum opens at eight and its eight-thirty now.” Landon walked up to a guy with short black hair and tapped him on the shoulder. “Huh?” He turned grumpily. “Excuse me, but what’s the problem?” “The problem is there’s a hold up at the front door.” The man growled, “I’ve been waiting here for an hour; some joker better open up those doors now, or I’ll—” “Thank you, that’s enough.” Lanodn slipped away, sweating anime style. He walked back over to his friends. “The Museum is closed.” “What for?” Zeru asked. “How should I know?” Landon asked. May clenched her fist and a flame sparked in her eyes. Both Landon and Zeru jumped a bit from the heat radiating from her. “Well I, for one, won’t settle for this. Let’s go, you two.” May started pushing her way through the crowd of people. She was utterly determined to make the last day of vacation go to plan. “But May—” The two boys looked a bit unsure; sometimes Landon hated it when May forced them into things because it often meant trouble. Still, he and Zeru parted their way through the loud crowd. They were very careful not to step on anyone’s foot (for the crowd was angry enough; better to avoid more hostility).
May was the first to get to the front of the crowd. The circumference of the museum was wrapped with yellow police tape. Officer Jenny stood on the museum steps, notepad in hand, next to another woman. Her long hair was taupe in color, her eyes were purple, and she was wearing a blue suite. The woman sported a rather worried look while Officer Jenny questioned her. “So, when was the last time you saw her?” She asked. “It was about half an hour ago! Please, Ms. Jenny, you have to find her for me!” The woman was coming close to tears as she pleaded. “Don’t worry, Ms. Ryo; we’ll find her for you. You can count on me.” Officer Jenny saluted her. “Excuse me, but what’s going on here?” May forced herself into the conversation. Officer Jenny frowned and turned around to them. Her eyes wandered from May, to Zeru, then to Landon. “…Hey! I know who you are!” She beamed at him. Landon took a step back as he and Toya sweated anime style. “I’m sorry, have we met?” “Who can tell if you met or not? All the Jennys’ look exactly alike.” Zeru mumbled lightly. “We haven’t met, but I have a sister-in-law in Dewford Town who knows you. I think what you did was really great.” Officer Jenny complimented. Landon blushed a bit, “I had a lot of help from someone else.” “Can you tell us why the museum is closed?” May pressed on. Officer Jenny put her hands on her hip. “There was a break-in about an hour ago. Someone stole the museum’s most recent discovery, the Sapphire drive. And to make matters worst,” She glanced back at the woman, “The curator’s daughter has gone missing. That’s the main reason why the museum is closed.” “That’s terrible…” Zeru gave the museum curator a sympathetic look. “Yeah, we’re about to dispatch a search unit as soon as I file this report.” Officer Jenny said.
Landon, May, and Zeru were back out on the sidewalks of Slateport City again. The crowd that was around the oceanic museum was still hovering over the area. May had her arms folded as she let out another sigh, “I really wish we could’ve gone inside of that museum.” “Well, think about it, May; if you were a mother and your daughter disappeared, would you feel like opening up shop?” Landon asked her. “Mud-mud,” Toya shook her head. “You’re right; I wouldn’t.” May answered. Zeru folded his arms, snorting, “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. Officer Jenny is perfectly capable of finding that that little girl.” But now the bigger question: what were they going to do for the rest of their vacation? Personally, Landon was ready to hit the road. May and Zeru, on the other hand, were practically scanning the area for something to fill the day with. The sun rose into the partially cloudy sky. “I guess I’m just felling kind of helpless.” Landon thought himself. “Maybe if we had some sort of picture of her, we could keep an eye out.” “Will that work for you?” Zeru pointed forward. One of the lampposts had been tagged with a big poster. On it was the picture of a little girl with long, blue hair with two buns on top. Her eyes were violet in color and she was wearing a pair of blue shorts and pink shirt. Underneath the photograph was the name “Nici Ryo” followed by a telephone number. A wide smile spread across Landon’s and Toya’s faces. He walked ahead of his friends to get a closer look at it. “This is perfect,” He said, “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, forget it.” Zeru told him. “If Officer Jenny can’t find her, what makes you think we can?” Landon shrugged his shoulders. The whole idea did seem kind of far-fetched anyway. May took the lead again and they continued down the sidewalk. Maybe some ice cream or something would blow it all over. “…Huh?” “Huh?” Toya and Phanpy glanced off to the side. They weren’t sure at first, but when they saw her dashing in an awful hurry, they looked to each other and nodded. “Mudkip-mudkip!” “Phanpy-anpy!” The two tugged on their trainers’ hair sharply. “Yeowch! Toya, what was that for?” Landon growled. “Yeah, Phanpy; what gives?” Zeru asked. The two Poke’mon pointed in between the alleyways of the buildings. Landon, May, and Zeru saw her slip out one of the allies and onto the sidewalk on the other side. “Hey, that’s her! It’s Nici!” May exclaimed as she watched the little girl attempt to blend with the crowd. She was careful not to spill whatever she was carrying in her arms. “Come on,” Landon jumped off the sidewalk and pushed his way into the small alley. Phanpy dropped to the floor, being the first to follow with the two humans behind her. Landon was sure to move swiftly, as to not lose Nici at any moment. He dashed out of the dark alley and started down the sidewalk. Nici panted a bit as she pushed through the crowd of Slateport City. In her arms were a dozen of different colored bottles. Of what, Landon couldn’t tell.
The trio followed Nici all through the city. They were especially careful not to let Nici see them. If she did, they risked her running away from them. Nici lead the group into one of Slateport’s tree-filled parks. It was as if she had an endless supply of energy, the way she was running like that. “Where could she be going? She’s been running for nearly half an hour!” Zeru exclaimed. “I don’t know, but it looks to me like she’s hiding something.” May said. Suddenly, Nici slowed to a stop. “Wha!” Landon, May, and Zeru gave a startled jump and leapt into a nearby bush. Nici blinked curiously, glancing back in caution and panting slightly. Her eyes wandered around the park before she started away again. “Whew! That was close!” Landon let out a sigh. “Huh?” Nici turned sharply. Lanodn held his breath as May and Zeru clasped their hands over his mouth, sweating anime style. “Ssssshhhh!” They hissed. Nici frowned as the heat from her stair penetrated through the shrubbery. “Hmm….” She started to slowly walk forward with more caution this time. The bush sluggishly crawled behind her. “Huh?”” As soon as Nici turned, the bush came to a lifeless drop. She sweated anime style with her temple beating in annoyance. Closing her eyes, she started to growl lowly at first, “Grrrrr….it’s RUDE to spy on people, ya’ know!” She shot dangerously. “You’ve been following me all day!” “Duh! She’s onto us!” Landon whispered. “You let her on, Lan; you fix this!” May hissed. “Me!?” “I’ll go and do it.” Zeru flashed a thumbs-up, “No one can resist the ol’ Zeru charm.” With that, he stood up out of the bushes. May and Landon sweated anime style. “Did he just say charm?” “I think he must mean horror.” They said. Zeru walked up to Nici calmly. Her frown shot more dangerously with each step he took. “Excuse me, “ Zeru’s eyes lit up. “We’re sorry if we scared you, earlier. We were just—” “Save it! You were sent by my mom, weren’t you?” Nici snapped. “Huh?” Zeru blinked. “Why don’t you go home—I’m old enough to know your flirting is fake.” “Flirting?!” Zeru blinked with his temple beating in annoyance. “Did you hear me? Stop following me, rooster-hair!” Nici shouted. “Rooster-hair?”?!” Zeru growled. Nici stuck her tongue out at him and started kicking him in the ankle. He did his best to just stand there, clenching his fists and growling. “Stupid kid; dummy-dummy! GO bother someone else!” “I’ll show you, you little brat—” “Zeru, don’t!” Landon and May jumped out of the bushes and grasped him by the arms. Zeru clenched his teeth, struggling to get free. “Some charm, Mr. Hot-head!” Landon shot. Zeru forced his way form them and folded his arms. “Stupid little kid!” He thought to himself. “You’ll have to excuse our friend; he means well, but can get carried away real quickly.” May tried to apologize, but Nici still gave them a reproachful look. Now, it was Landon’s turn to step up to the plate. He didn’t plan on sweet-talking her, or bribing her, or anything of that matter. He just held out his hand, “Hi, I’m Landon. Nice to meet you, Nici.” “There; plain and simple! It’s amazing how far something small can go.” He glanced at the contents in her arms; each bottle was labeled with a different kind of medicine. Nici saw his wandering eyes reading the bottle labels and drew back swiftly. “I don’t have time for this.” She started away at a jog. Landon, May, Zeru, Toya, and Phanpy all sweated anime style. “Mud-kip!” Toya beat her paw on her trainer’s head. “Yeah, I was getting to that.” Landon responded by prodding her in the side. He started to jog down the grassy trail with his friends lagging behind. He caught up to the side of Nici and grinned. “Hey, don’t run away.” “I could call the police on you for stalking.” Nici said without stopping. “Geez, this kid thinks I’m a criminal.” Landon slapped his face. “I have to get somewhere; he needs my help and I can’t waste time with you.” Nici said. “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere!” Landon snapped his fingers. He leaned down to her level, putting his hands behind his back. “How about we make a deal? If I help you out, you have to return to your mother.” “Well…” Nici slowed down a bit. “Your mom is really worried about you, Nici. Please do it for her.” Landon stopped completely to give her room to think. “You should return home, that you should.” His voice became mellow. Nici looked down at the medicines in her arms with an air of uncertainty. The thought of her mother seemed to stir something inside of her. Landon watched her slow down as the gears in her head cranked around and around. “…I guess I could use the help…” She mumbled reluctantly. There was a slight pause in her decision before she wheeled around to them. “Fine! But you have to promise you’ll stick to your word.” She shot dangerously. “Don’t worry; I’ll stick to it. Right, Toya?” Landon glanced up to his Poke’mon. “Mudkip,” Toya nodded simply. Nici nodded too and said, “Follow me, then—hey!” Nici kicked and struggled as Zeru lifted her off the ground by the back of her shirt. He didn’t really make an effort to keep her suspended. “Why don’t we just take the brat home and be done with it?” He asked. “I mean, all, we have to do is—” PING!! “Duh!” Zeru was forced to drop Nici once May brought a Japanese fan crashing on top of his head. Nici scooted away from them, frowning. “Oooh, I can’t stand you!” Zeru growled at May, rubbing the top of his head gingerly. “Next time, you shouldn’t pick on little girls.” “YOU’RE THE ONE PICKING ON ME!” He shouted at May. Landon sweated anime style, then turned to Nici. He gave a thumbs-up to lether know that he agreed to her terms.
Phanpy and Toya walked the grassy trail of the park alongside their trainers. Nici lead them through bushes and underbrush in a brisk walk. Landon followed closely, making sure he didn’t lose her. “Where is she taking us?” Zeru whispered out of Nici’s earshot. “I’m not sure, but I bet it has something to do with those bottles in her arms.” May said suspiciously. Zeru gave her a grunt; he was still mad about the damage she dealt to his head. Nici was silent the entire way, until she came to a stop in a large, thick shrubbery. “It’s right here.” She pushed back the bushes. “Ah!” Landon, May, and Zeru gasped at what resided behind them. The shrubs revealed a large clearing with lush grass and tons of flowers. The trees of the park formed a green canopy above the area. In the middle of the clearing was a green, lizard-like Poke’mon—a Poke’mon Landon was very familiar with. “It’s a Kecleon!”
Fast Fact Quiz: What is the name of Toya’s EX attack? If you can’t guess, find out at the end of this Chapter!
This is the end of Episode 20, part 1